Recently I took interest in games that have some extra/different content in the demos, shareware versions and ports to other platforms. By "extra content" I mean everything that goes beyond small modifications or limitations compared to the to full/original version of the same game.

Since the original list grew very large, I decided to focus on downloadable content that can be either stand-alone or used as add-on levels for the full game.

Extra episodes, campaigns and level sets

Certainly not the most frequent occurrence, but sometimes the developers will include completely original material in the demo or shareware games. The most interesting examples of this are when this takes the form of a whole unique campaign or episode, which sometimes serves as a "prequel" or "interquel" to the full game, filling some gaps in the storyline.

Age of Empires Trial Version
The trial version has two campaigns, a five-mission Reign of the Hittites campaign that is comparable to the Ascent of Egypt Learning Campaign from the retail version (albeit much shorter), and the Armies at War, A Combat Showcase scenario that shows off full scale battles featuring various units.NOTE: Since the Trial Version is based off of a late beta build, some beta features are still present in it (read more here).Download Age of Empires Trial Version

Age of Empires CGW Demo
A different demo of Age of Empires was exclusively released by the Computer Gaming World magazine. The demo features an Egyptian campaign that is different from the Ascent of Egypt campaign in the full version, and is five missions long. Read more about it here.Download Age of Empires CGW Demo

Command & Conquer: Special Ops (Nintendo 64)
The Nintendo 64 port of Command & Conquer included four extra bonus missions, two for each side, called the Special Ops. This version of C&C is also unique because of its true 3D graphics used both in-game and for video cutscenes.NOTE: The extra missions have been converted by Nyerguds into PC version format, and are included with his patch.

Command & Conquer: Special Ops (PlayStation)
The PlayStation port has five extra bonus (and one secret) missions, also called the Special Ops, but completely different from the Nintendo 64 bonus missions of the same name.NOTE: These missions have been converted into PC version format by Rusty le Cyborg and are included with Nyerguds' patch.

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Demo
Unlike the previous C&C titles, Westwood actually put original content in the TS demo. There are two GDI missions, "Initiation" and "Clean Sweep", that are not found in the full version of the game.NOTE: In the second demo mission, a huge blue Tiberium crystal can be seen. These were not used until the Firestorm expansion pack, where blue Tiberium crystals spawn blue Tiberium.Download Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Demo

Half-Life: Uplink
The public demo of Half-Life titled Half-Life: Uplink is made of levels that were cut from the full game.Download Half-Life: Uplink

Rise of the Triad: The H.U.N.T. Begins
The shareware episode of Rise of the Triad: Dark War serves as a prequel to the full game. It has 7 regular levels, 1 secret level and 2 levels accessible only via cheat codes ("warp" levels). NOTE: The shareware episode was included in the CD version of the full game, as well as in the "Triad PowerPack" disk add-on, but otherwise the shareware levels are not part of the full game.Download Rise of the Triad: The H.U.N.T. Begins

Rise of the Triad: The H.U.N.T. Begins Special Edition (a.k.a. Deluxe Edition)
To quote Joe Siegler:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

"There is an extra version called Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins
SPECIAL EDITION. This is marketed in retail by LaserSoft. It is the
same as the regular shareware episode, except is has 3 extra levels, and
3 extra COMM-BAT Levels that are not available on ANY other version.
Apogee does not distribute this version, it is only available in stores
from LaserSoft."

Space Quest 6: The Spinal Frontier
The special CD demo release has an alternate storyline which is not directly related to the full game, and is complete with voice acting from the original game crew.Download Space Quest 6 Demo

Starcraft Shareware (CD version)
Blizzard shipped a unique prequel Terran campaign called Loomings with the shareware version of Starcraft. The story of Zerg invasion of the Terran colony of Chau Sara is told across five missions, plus a tutorial level. The campaign had been also released as an add-on for the full game under the title Precursor.Starcraft Shareware CD at the Shareware CD ArchiveDownload Starcraft: Precursor

Starcraft Shareware (Download)
The Loomings campaign had been cut down to three missions in the downloadable version of Starcraft shareware, presumably to reduce the size of the download.NOTE: The number of unit quotes (speech files) had been halved for each unit, also because of file size concerns.Download Starcraft Shareware

WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness Shareware
The demo version has two three-mission campaigns, one for each side. The missions are comparable with missions 1,3 and 4 from the full version, but the maps, briefing texts and mission titles are different. A CD version of the shareware includes the full intro video and mission briefing voice-overs, while the downloadable version only has a non-animated, slideshow version of the intro, and no background narration.NOTE: The shareware also shows an earlier version of the title screen, with orange background (which looks better than that in the final version IMO). There's a preview slideshow option showing many of the new units, structures, in-game screen shots and cinematic stills from the full game. The Footman, Grunt and Peasant units have "pissed" quotes (i.e. what they say in response to repeated clicking) that are different from the retail version (e.g. the Grunt will say "You buy retail version pleeease?", "You buy retail version or I sing!"). It is interesting to note that the briefing and mission objective texts for the demo missions are found in the full game's files, but are not used there.Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Shareware CD (files only)Download Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Shareware

WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Demo
The demo features the Exodus of the Horde Orc campaign, part of which takes place during the Alliance campaign of the full game. The plot of the demo campaign is somewhat important story-wise in that it tells how Thrall befriended the Jungle Trolls that later joined the new Horde.NOTE: Only the first two tutorial levels of the demo campaign are present in the retail version, but the remaining three were released (although with some minor differences) as a bonus mini-campaign accompanying the add-on, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne.Download Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Demo

Extra levels

A much more common way for the demos is to include a single unique level, sometimes made specifically for the demonstration purposes. Sometimes a single extra level is included in a console port of the game.

Starcraft: Resurrection IV (Nintendo 64)
Th Nintendo 64 release features both Starcraft and its add-on, Brood War, plus there is a secret bonus mission called Resurrection IV that is unique to this version. Also, the game tutorial is completely different from the PC version, and consists of two levels (the first focused on basic unit control and familiarizing the players with the interface, the other on base-building).NOTE: The Resurrection IV bonus mission has been re-created by fans for the PC version and is downloadable here.

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
There are two demo versions of the game, both of which feature a total of four unique levels not found in the full release of the game.Download Terra Nova Demo Versions

Modified levels

This is probably the most frequent practice with playable demos, which is to include levels from the full game that are either moderately modified compared to the full version counterparts (e.g. to reduce the difficulty level), or are, in fact, earlier versions of the same levels.

Command & Conquer CD Demo
This rare CD release of the C&C demo, recently discovered by Nyerguds, contains, in addition to the three GDI missions found in the official downloadable demo, three Nod missions (which are, just like their GDI counterparts, slightly modified missions from the full game), and over 150 Mb of videos and music.

The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall
A special demo that was exclusively released with the PC Gamer Magazine, dubbed the "Betony demo", features a modified version of the island of Betony area from the full game, with extra additions as large as an entire new "Betony city".Download Daggerfall Betony Demo

Powerslave Official Beta
The first level of what appears to be the very first public release of Powerslave only slightly resembles its final variant in later releases, but many areas are still recognizable. The second level is muсh closer to its final counterpart though.NOTE: There are abundant differences in graphics and sounds in this version as well. This version has a help screen (brought up by pressing F1 during the game), which was later removed, and supports MIDI music (there's a single in-game music track). This is also the only demo of Powerslave where you can get the Cobra Staff weapon.Download Powerslave Official Beta

The Secret of Monkey Island
The Island of Melee location that comprises the demo is different from the place of the same name in the full game, and so are the puzzles that the player must complete in the demo. The differences are documented in great detail here.NOTE: The demo itself has two different versions, one of which has an intro cinematic, while the other (included in the Passport to ADventure demo pack alongside Loom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade demos) has a few more screens and characters.Download The Secret of Monkey Island Demo

Star Wars: Dark Forces Demo
The demo level is, for the most part, identical to the first level of the full version. However, some modifications have been made to show off more of the weapons and enemies. Most secret areas are either completely different from the retail version (e.g. the player needs to blast rock walls with Thermal Detonators to reveal some of the secrets), or have different items, weapons and enemies.NOTE: The demo has a "lock and load montage" intro cutscene showing Kyle preparing for his mission, which was for some reason not used in the full game. Yet another small difference in the demo is that the graphics for blaster/laser rifle charge packs is noticeably different. The demo version was included with the retail CD version of the game. Read more about the differences in the demo here.Download Star Wars: Dark Forces Demo

Will Rock Demo
The demo level is, for the most part, identical to the third level of the retail version, with some minor differences in weapon, enemy and item placement. However, the final stage had been modified to feature the boss battle with the Cyclops, which, in the full game, takes place in the end of the second level.Download Will Rock Demo

Misc differences

Here, various differences that did not fall into any of the other categories are listed.

Alien Trilogy CD Demo
The two-level CD demo has different title, main menu and loading screens, as well as different sound effects. Ripley's speech is missing from this demo, though. The levels themselves, however, are fairly identical to those in the full game.Download Alien Trilogy CD Demo

Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Retaliation (PlayStation)
This is a "two-in-one" release of the Red Alert add-ons Counterstrike and Aftermath. Unlike the PC release, where the add-on missions can be played in any order, here the missions are arranged into campaigns (one for each side) and supplied with video briefings and cutscenes exclusive to this release. Some musical tracks are remixes of the originals ([i]Hell March, Crush, Radio 2 etc.), made by Frank Klepacki but not included in any of the PC versions of Red Alert (some of them made appearance on PC in another game of the series, Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor).NOTE: The videos have been extracted by Nyerguds and compiled into Red Alert: The Lost Files add-on.

Dune Demo
The unplayable demo shows a different image of Paul Atreides. In the final release, his appearance was changed to look more like Kyle MacLachlan, who played Paul in David Lynch's film.Download Dune Non-Playable Demo

WarCraft II Alpha
The alpha version of WarCraft II was initially released to game magazines for preview purposes, and then became available to general public. The most notable feature of this early build is the fourth resource, ore, which is harvested like lumber, with peasants chopping away at rocks. The oil harvesting method is also different, as there are no "oil patches", and oil-rich areas must be located by the sonar capacity of oil tankers; this was obviously dropped from the final game for being too clumsy. Some buildings and units have slightly different in-game and sidebar icon graphics, and, like in the demo version, the Footman and Grunt units have special "pissed" quotes that reflect the purpose of the preview release ("A good review for Warcraft Two" - Footman). The main menu screen resembles an updated version of the WarCraft: Orcs and Humans menu screen, and the briefing, victory and defeat screens are all different from the final version. The alpha features two missions per side, with voiced-over briefings (the briefings in the demo version, on the other hand, are not voiced - only the "epilogues" that urge the player to buy the full game have voiceovers). Some leftovers like graphics and sounds from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans are found in the alpha version data files. Get it here.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade Demo
The music is slightly different from the final release.

The Fifth Horseman

31-01-2010 08:43 PM

Zombie Wars
(PC demo)
IIRC it was both a different level from anything you get in the full game AND it had a tileset not used in the full game (snowed-up version of one of the tileset from the full thing, I think). Don't remember exact details anymore.

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
(PC demo)
Three of the music tracks in the demo are almost the same, but mixed a bit differently than in the full version (Space Marine theme, Space Marine victory, Tau victory).
Wouldn't have noticed if not for a pet project I've got regarding ripping music from Warhammer 40k games.

Space Crusade
The PC and Amiga versions apparently have different music.

Space Hulk
The PC and Amiga versions have different music.

Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels
The PC version has different music than console versions.

marko river

01-02-2010 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFlibble
(Post 395590)

Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (PC demo)

The three-mission demo campaign for each side features two levels that are almost completely identical to missions 1 and 3 from the retail version, and the final mission is an unwinnable scenario with the player being overwhelmed by superior enemy forces right from the start.

Each campaign ends with an epilogue that tells to buy the full version of the game.

I have this demo. I don't think it's worth adding to the site.

Jagged Alliance (demo)
You get to play area not included in the game with already selected and equipped team. I recently uploaded this demo level.

bobinator1992

02-02-2010 03:23 PM

Wolfenstien 3D - While this version was censored and has less levels, it has an auto-map feature, briefings inbetween episodes, and three new weapons. The Mac and 3DO versions have re-recorded enemy dialogue by native German speakers, as well as the new weapons.

Duke Nukem 64 - Censored like Wolf 3D was for SNES, and missing some of the features and levels of the PC version, but some of the effects are a little prettier, there's a new weapon, and a couple of levels based on the Atomic Edition.

Lemmings - The SNES and Genesis ports have a few exclusive levels. The SNES version has 5 new levels, and the Genesis has 60 new levels, some of them being ports from Oh No More Lemmings.

Freddy Pharkas - Frontier Pharmachist - The demo is actually pretty different than the actual game, with a new puzzle involving making a bomb to seal a mine with a bank robber hiding in it. It also has a lot of new jokes and dialogue.

hunvagy

02-02-2010 09:12 PM

Wing Commander I: The 3DO version sports voice acting, different cutscenes and superior graphics. And the SNES port is abysmal :)

Wing Commander III The PSX and 3DO missions have a few cutscenes that the PC version is missing.

_r.u.s.s.

03-02-2010 11:23 AM

i remember interplay and blue byte always used to put goodies on their cds

Scatty

03-02-2010 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFlibble
(Post 395590)

Rise of the Triad: The H.U.N.T. Begins (PC shareware)

The shareware episode also serves as a "prequel" to the retail game, Rise of the Triad: Dark War and has completely different levels. The music is the same though.

A commercial version of The H.U.N.T. Begins is also known to exist, which has a few more levels compared to the shareware version.

Actually the complete shareware campaign with all of it's (secret)levels is also included in the full version of Rise of the Triad and can be selected in setup.exe instead of the full version campaign.

There was also a Christmas Edition of Wolfenstein 3D although an unofficial one, it was rather a modding attempt although unfortunately it was only limited to a shareware version of the game. It had completely different units and the end-boss - Santa's with pistols, snowballs throwing Snowmen and a fat Santa with two huge chainguns as the final boss. The various wall graphics and sprites were also different, with scriptures like "Santa is a fat git" on the walls, some children's portraits instead of Hitler's in the original game. The pickup-goodies for points and healing were also replaced with various Christmas goodies like candies, in other words it was a complete re-work of the original demo version.